Peter Eisenman
Architecture is one branch of design that is extremely focused on how the user interacts with the work. When creating spaces for human use, it is critical for one to imagine practical user needs while engaging the creative processes. Peter Eisenman is a well-renowned architect who has a unique and somewhat challenging approach to architecture. While he still employs techniques that allow his work to be successfully used by humans, his main belief is that architecture only truly exists in his drawings, not in physical buildings. Does this mean he has a blatant disregard for how the user will interact with his work? No, his process still places the user’s needs high in priority, but he engages a complex and intriguing way of intertwining aesthetic value and physical use. He claims that while his drawing and concepts are the most important part of his work, there is no function until it has been built. In order to make his work real, it must be created and prove to withstand the test of human use. This is the only way architecture can be regarded as useful in society, despite the fact that once in an interview he claimed that he does “not think architecture is about solving human problems at all, [they] do culturally necessary projects.” This appears rather paradoxical because he is responding to a need of humanity in the most basic way: creating spaces that humans exist in, and after these projects take their physical form, they are required to have functional value.
His work includes an extensive variety of projects, such as the Wexner Center for the Arts at the Ohio State University, Berlin Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, and the University of Phoenix Stadium. The project that most Cincinnatians, and particularly University of Cincinnati students, are familiar with is his designing of the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning’s most recognizable building: The Aronoff Center for Design and Art. This building is rather controversial when it comes to the question: is this establishment truly user friendly? Many might say it is too confusing to navigate, therefore losing some of its function in being an educational building. In this specific project, Eisenman was attempting to create an environment for students to learn to question the structure of educational systems. Before he could birth his drawings, Eisenman and his team had to understand precisely the goal of the space and the activities that were to occur inside. The plan for the project listed on his website describes that he desired to “rise to the challenge of training students to assume more important roles in society and to resist an easy preoccupation with the superficial and the inconsequential.” In addition, the building solved issues of overcrowding that previously existed, as well as intermixing the taught disciplines to benefit how upcoming designers can and should interact with each other.
A current second-year student of the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning studying Communication Design, Peter Ward, supports the claim that Eisenman successfully achieved a design that is centered around the user. He feels a sense of entitlement from exploring and properly navigating the building, as many are not able to achieve this. He believes that “an aspect of accommodating a user is also challenging the user’s intellect and not catering to the user’s inadequacies.” This building properly employs all three of the Vitruvian principles: strength (firmatas), usefulness (utilitas), and beauty (venustas). Studying this architect, his process, and this educational building has created a deeper personal appreciation and understanding of how form and function coexist to please the user in the most successful manner.
Sources
AD Editorial Team. “Spotlight: Peter Eisenman.” ArchDaily, 11 Aug. 2018, www.archdaily.com/535705/spotlight-peter-eisenman.
Ansari, Iman. “Interview: Peter Eisenman.” Architectural Review, 24 Apr. 2013, www.architectural-review.com/essays/interview-peter-eisenman/8646893.article.
archdaily. “AD Interviews: Peter Eisenman.” YouTube, YouTube, 22 Sept. 2011, www.youtube.com/watch?v=HP8ifcS8wMw.
Peter Ward (interview)
“Projects.” EISENMAN ARCHITECTS, eisenmanarchitects.com/Projects.
Zukowsky, John. “Peter Eisenman.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 8 Aug. 2018, www.britannica.com/biography/Peter-Eisenman.